World's ugliest snapper

Over the years we have posed the question ‘is this the world’s ugliest snapper?’ after receiving images of candidates from readers.

Most have been big, old fish with a large bony bump on their forehead along the lines of those found in bigger fish across the ditch.

The latest submission, from Northland angler Mike Humphries, might just have taken the title!

Fishing near the entrance to the Whangarei harbour, Mike landed a 7.3kg (16lb) 75cm snapper on  slider, a personal best. On getting it aboard he immediately noticed a lump on its face, rather than its forehead.

The cause of the disfigurement – a bony growth that extended from the front of the snapper’s face.

Taking a few pictures of his disfigured catch he released it, but it soon popped back up and drew the attention of a couple of gulls that began pecking it. The fish was retrieved and ended up in Mike’s smoker.

As a memento of his catch, Mike cut out the jaws to preserve them and in the boiling process to remove the flesh from the head, he was left with a bony horn-like protrusion from the skull.

The jaws will be mounted, serving as a memento of Mike’s personal best snapper to date.

He said before boiling the head, the lump was both hard in places as well as soft in others.

He described the fish as being in good condition and the smoked fillets tasted good.

– Grant Dixon